Pokemon Flash Platinum
by Strikeflash
Summary: Welcome to Dreastia, a country where pokemon and humans have coexisted since the stone age. This is the story of a boy and his partner taking on the national pokemon league known as the platnium league. To do so he'll need to travel Dreastia to defeat 8 gym leaders, the elite four, win a regional gauntlet, and perhaps even save the world. Can this boy overcome the many challenges?
1. Chapter 1: Intro! The first step

1

Today is the day! The day I become a trainer. My partner and I have trained in the art of Pokemon battling for years and today we finally set out to challenge the Platinum league. "This is the first step of my legend!" I think as I set foot out of the door.

"Wait!" I flinch at the voice that echoes throughout my house. I wanted to leave early to avoid this but it seems I can't pull a fast one on my mom. "Sid! You can't leave without saying goodbye!" she says running down the stairs. She embraces me in a hug and squeezes tight.

"Mom please…You're crushing me" I try fruitlessly to get her off me. I know she means well but she can be very intense. Admittedly it makes her a great gym leader and teacher, but as a mom it can make her horrifying at times.

"Are you sure you don't want to take any of our others with you? I can spare Umber, or even Jetra if you want her!" she pleaded. I knew this was coming. My mom has been over protective of me ever since my brother Hector went missing. Anytime I left the city she made me take our pet Hydriegon Umber or her Garchomp Jetra. She wouldn't even let me become a real trainer until I was 16, despite the starting age being 10.

"Mom, I don't need them. Prancer is fully evolved, we can handle wild pokemon." I answer. The last thing I want is her holding my hand throughout my journey. I want my team to be own, my victories earned by my own prowess. I look her in the eyes and reassure her "Mom, I'm going to be okay, I promise."

"Alright, but you better keep in contact!" She says as she finally let go. First obstacle out of the way, I take the first step of my journey.


	2. Chapter 2: The shiny failure

Okay, maybe I'm in over my head. Because I have no badges I can only challenge beginner level gyms. The nearest beginner level gym is in Farrow City, which can only be accessed through Farrow Woods. Dark, dangerous, scary Farrow Woods.

I may sound like a coward, but you have to understand there are all types of creatures in these woods. Beedrill, Victrebell, Shiftry! What if they eat me before I can draw Prancer? Every time the grass rustles it means there's something nearby. What something's following me? Could I catch it or would it break out and put up a fight? Nonsense, if I just stick to the path I shouldn't encounter any wild pokemon right? Wrong.

As I speed walk through the woods a Shiny Espurr jumps out from the underbrush and onto the path. We mutually jump in fear of one another until realization set in. "OH MY GOD" I yell to the heavens. The Espurr tries to run away but it seems to already be pretty beat up. Not sparing a moment I chuck my Pokeball right at it. With one wriggle the ball locks. Critical capture! I couldn't believe my luck.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"As I retrieve the ball from the ground a piercing screech shoots through the woods. From the same direction as the Espurr a blond haired girl in ragged clothes and wearing a blue charm on her wrist runs out. "THAT WAS MINE! I ALMOST HAD IT! GIVE IT BACK!" She yells until she's too winded to continue.

"Sorry lady, I caught it fair and square." I say proudly. As the girl catches her breath a Mawile comes from the underbrush and jumps on her shoulder. Suddenly the girl perks up.

"WHAT ABOUT A TRADE!?" the mawile gives her a look of disgust, which she returns. "Yeah that means you too" the Mawile begins to yell at her and she returns this as well as if she was actually arguing with it. What a strange girl.

"No thanks, I'm not a big fan of trading pokemon" I answer, breaking up their tirade in the process.

"Wait…That means you're a trainer?" the girl finally seems to have gained some composure. "How about a battle? I win you give me the espurr, you win and I give you this" from her bag she pulls out a silver league pass. The platinum league is divided into 3 phases to weed out trainers from all over Dreastia until 32 remain for the platinum league. Having a silver pass allows you to skip the first phase all together. That means no gym badges or qualifiers are required. I'd have to be a fool to pass up such an opportunity.

"Deal! 1v1, league standard rules." I reply, finally giving her a satisfactory answer. She shrieks with joy, and then regains her composure once more.

"Okay! Then I'll use this" she rummages through her bag and pulls out a dirty luxury ball. "Go Lucario!" She throws the ball and her Lucario emerges with a proud roar. Not to be left behind I draw the pokeball I've been keeping on my belt

"Let's go Prancer!" I throw my ball and my Gallade emerges in his battle stance.

"3…2…1...BATTLE BEGIN" she declares, and I waste no time

"PRANCER USE CLOSE COMBAT!" Prancer sprints at the Lucario to close the gap.

"Slow it down Lucario, Metal sound." The girl orders calmly (oddly enough). Lucario bangs his spikes creating a grating noise. Gallade falters in his pursuit, disoriented.

"Keep going Prancer!" Lucario is steel type, I knew one close combat would end this. Prancer closes the gap punching and kicking at the Lucario, but he can't land a blow.

The girl looks me right in the eye as her Lucario effortlessly dodges Prancer's strikes as if expecting me to do something. Then it happened, prance faltered once again, this time too close to Lucario to regain his footing in time. "End it Lucario! Iron tail!" With a spin Lucario strikes Prancer right across the chest with its tail. Prancer is knocked back by the devastating blow. The girl begins to count down as per league rules, but I already know there's no getting up from that type of blow. I run to Prancer's Side with a potion my mom packed. The wound heals enough for prance to regain consciousness. The girl looks down on me with what seems to be…pity? No, she's looking at me with contempt.

"A deals a deal." She holds out her hand and I give her the pokeball containing the Espurr. "What a waste of time. If you're hoping to enter the platinum league then you're in over your head, go home." She says calmly as she walks away with her prize.

I cradle Prancer and spray him with another potion until he's able to stand on his feet. After withdrawing him I trudge down the path. As I see Farrow city in the distance I think to myself "Yeah I'm in over my head alright."


	3. Chapter 3: 3D battling

**3**

After arriving in Farrow City I immediately had Prancer treated. The process was incredibly short: I gave him to the nurse, she put him in a machine, and after a short tune she gave him back fully healed. I've gotta admit, I was disappointed that the nurse joy looked exactly like the one from my small home town, It's a little unsettling.

"Alright buddy lets go explore" I say as I release Prancer from his ball. He emerges with a cheerful roar, he's always loved being out of his ball. As we walk through farrow city we're amazed by the beauty of the city. The trees here remain radiant amber year round. We pass several cafes and joint battlefields with trainers battling casually. We arrive at the gym and when I see its steel type I decide to double back to a café.

As we sit eating cake from a café, Prancer isn't pleased. He gives me a weird "why aren't we battling right now" look to which I just reply "I've had enough of steel types for a while". It doesn't have the effect I'm looking for as Prancer stomps his feet and yells at me. "You saw how easily that mawile girl beat us, what if we aren't ready for this?" I ask to which Prancer replies by yelling at me more. He extends his blades to demonstrate his will to battle but I'm not necessarily convinced, he's always been like this. He probably has completely forgotten about the loss we just had.

"He's right ya know." someone whispers into my ear. I flinch and face the source. It's another girl, this one with long jet black hair, red highlights, and an egg under one of her arms. She smiles at me and Prancer but we're both confused and to be honest kinda scared. But she continues "You can't give up after one loss!" when did she get there? How long was she listening?

"um… Who are you?" I ask while distancing myself

"Oh me? I'm Ashly, but my friends call me Jet, so you can call me Jet." She takes my discomfort as an invite and pulls up a chair in the space I made between us. "Tell me about your loss, maybe I can help!"

Me and Prancer Exchange glances. We're beyond the point of just being able to walk away so I tell her about the mawile girl and how her lucario effortless defeated me. She puts her hand on her chin

"I see your problem. You still battle too 2D." She declares. But she doesn't explain, she just declares it like I should understand.

"what does that mean" I follow up.

"oh…um" she starts playing with the red streak in her hair. "Well new trainers often assume that just because they call an attack means the attack is guaranteed to happen. In reality the attack is just a small part in a much bigger equation. You attacked with close combat because you knew it would end the fight, however the attack couldn't be landed due to Prancer having his senses impaired. While in the middle of your attack your opponent took advantage of your impatience and dealt a decisive blow while your defense was lowered. You should've waited for Prancer to recover from metal sound and you should've abandoned your offensive the moment the Lucario started dodging. So in Laymans terms you gotta know when to hold em and know when to fold em!"

"Seriously?" I exclaim. So she appears out of nowhere, drops sage advice, and makes what I know was a reference to something Unovian. This is by far the strangest person I've encountered. "That's great advice but-"

The egg under her arm rumbles fiercely and pieces begin to flake off. "Well this isn't how I planned this" she sits the egg on my lap and takes a step back. Me and Prancer both panic as it hatches. From the egg immerges a new born trapinch.

"What is this?" I ask while the born begins to chew on my jacket.

"Well I 'found' this egg but I never really had much of a use for our littler junior." she replies. Her use of air quotes on "found" worries me but she doesn't seem to want the little guy. She smiles at me deviously and lifts Junior from my lap "I got it! If you win the gym I'll give you Junior and if you lose I'll release him into the wilds!"

"What, why!?" I'm confused as to what form of psychology she just used on me because I suddenly want Junior even though I know she's just pawning him off on me.

"Do we have a deal?" she asks almost mockingly.

Knowing I may have to face that mawile girl again I make my choice "fine, it's a deal."


	4. Chapter 4: The Gym Challenge

The gym is just as intimidating as before. Jet and Prancer looked up at the featureless iron building with an anticipating smile. Prancer's blades hadn't retracted once since Jet got me to agree to the gym challenge. What they see in this giant iron cube that's so exciting is lost to me. I guess Mawile girl really did a number on my trainer spirit. Prancer puts his hand on my shoulder to reassure me and we walk into the gym.

"WELCOME TO THE FARROW CITY GYM!" a man yelled from an iron throne overlooking a battle field with a pickaxe on the sidelines. He was large, blond, and wearing a jumpsuit and construction helmet. "I'M HEAVY A YOUR GYM LEADER! HERE WE TEST RESOLVE, THOSE WEAK IN SPIRIT DARE NOT SET FOOT HERE!" He jumped down from his thrown with a huge stomp and picked up the pickaxe. "WHICH ONE OF YOU IS MY CHALLENGER!" I raise my hand awkwardly. Without another word he took his side of the field. Jet and Junior took a seat on the sidelines.

"The following battle will follow League standard rules. Both sides are limited to four moves, substitutions are allowed, the Battle continues until one side runs out of battle capable pokemon. Do both participants accept these rules?" we both nod in agreement. "then battle start!"

Prancer takes the field and the loud gym leader throws out…an…Aron. Gotta admit I'm confused.

"Prancer…use drain punch" Prancer strikes the aron but surprisingly it isn't sent flying, instead it digs in its legs

"NOW ARON, COUNTER WITH ENDEAVER!" The aron charges Prancer

"Knock it back with Drain punch!" I yell in the spur of the moment. The Aron is sent flying but Prancer falls to his knees.

"Aron is unable to battle!" The referee declares. I look at Jet and she seems scared. She mouths "3D" to me and I think I get it. Had I not swatted at the endeaver attack Prancer would still be at full health.

"WELL NOW WE'LL TEST YOUR RESOLVE! GO STEELIX!" The loud gym leader's Steelix takes the battle field. It's dwarfs Prancer in size. I start repeating "3D" to myself ready to take on the massive snake.

"STEELIX USE ROCK THROW!" the steelix summons forth rocks and flings them at Prancer.

In that moment time feels like it's stood steal. "3D battling" I don't understand it fully but I'll lose if I don't think outside of the box. "Prancer! Shadow sneak behind him!" Prancer vanishes into the ground avoiding the rock throw and appearing behind the steelix's back

"STEELIX USE IRON TAIL" the steelix sweeps its tail around towards Prancer.

"Prancer jump over it and drain punch!" Prancer narrowly avoids the strike and delivers a powerful uppercut.

"GRAB HIM WITH CRUNCH!" the steelix catches Prancer's entire arm in its massive mouth and shakes him before flinging him.

This is it, I could feel Prancer's strength and I knew this wasn't enough to stop him. As he flew past me I knew I couldn't let it end here. "Prancer! Off the Wall!" I roared, Prancer now boosted by justified kicked off the wall the moment he hit it sending him flying back at the steelix "Endgame! close combat!" with a newfound ferocity prance struck the steelix's head over and over each blow harder than the last until he had beaten the steelix into the ground.

"Steelix is unable to battle the challenger wins!" with those words from the ref I fell to my knees. My first official win, my first gym badge, I've gotten them both. The feeling was overwhelming. Jet cheered from the sidelines and Prancer held up its fist triumphantly.

Heavy A, finally tempered hands me the badge. "you know kid, my daughter came through here and told me that if I saw a kid with a Gallade I should tell him to go home when he loses. I don't know what she's talking about." He said. guess Mawile girl is just as charming as when I last saw her.

"Well next time you speak to her, tell her I'm taking her down next!" I declare proudly. He lets out a hearty laugh before sending Jet and I on our way.

"Guess you earned this" She taps junior with a luxury ball and hands it to me. "he's all yours."

"Jet I don't know much about you but thank you so much" I say with a smile

"That's for the best. Next time we meet junior better be a big strong dragon okay?" she says. I nod in agreement and we part ways.

"what a strange girl right Prancer," I say. Prancer nods in agreement. "still, she helped us out." Which reminds me. I take out my transceiver and call mom. "mom, I've got a story to tell you"


	5. Chapter 5: Battling spirit

You know, there's a common misconception that pokemon training is easy. I can't tell you how many people think training is as simple as going outside, battling a couple wild pokemon, and steamrolling any trainer who dares to tangle with your Rattata slayer. They don't consider the hours of teaching the pokemon to understand your calls, of sitting in front of the teachy tv until they successfully learn a move, and the days of breaking them into battling! They honestly think it happens overnight! Can you believe that?

Why do I bring this up? Because training Junior has to be the most difficult task I've ever taken upon myself. It's Trapinch that took three hours to long dig! Trapinch live underground by default! I've been in Farrow City for three days getting him battle ready and I can't believe how difficult it's been. Every day we've gone out into the woods and I'd test him against the local wild pokemon. When he finally learned to activate arena trap, another issue became apparent. Junior is really bad under pressure. He can't hold arena trap and use attacks, he freezes when faced with retaliation, and he has a habit of running behind me or Prancer when intimidated.

So what's a guy to do when his pokemon isn't battle ready? Well my mom has a saying "the best teacher is experience", meaning the more battles Junior witnesses the more comfortable he'll be with battling. Of course that also means I can finally start making my way to my next gym challenge in Hardpoint Village. Along the way we could even battle a few trainers.

Of course it's never that easy. While walking down Hardpoint path I found myself surrounded by Zangoose. Perhaps keeping Junior out of his ball wasn't such a good idea. I send out Prancer however he's outnumbered.

"One against five! How fair is this!" I say to hopefully relieve a bit of tension. It didn't help as the Zangoose swarmed Prancer shortly after he came out. "Prancer, drain punch!" Prancer begins fighting off the Zangoose. He knocks one out cold with drain punch however the other four pounce with slash attacks. "keep don't let em slow you down Prancer! Close combat!" Prancer punches one back into the brush while kicking another hard enough to send it into a tree. One of the last two Zangoose takes advantage of Prancer's lower defense and tackles him to the ground, the other Zangoose prepares to strike Prancer when suddenly Junior jumps from behind me and crunches the Zangoose's arm, bringing the Zangoose down with its weight. "Prancer! Close combat once more" Prancer kicks the Zangoose off and strikes it down with a punch. The last Zangoose throws Junior off but before it can regain its composure Prancer sends it flying with a stern drain punch. The Zangoose were repelled.

I pick up Junior and pet him for being so brave, and that's when I noticed something in his eyes: Determination. In that encounter he must have felt excited. Finally, he had found his will to battle. He's gonna be a great member of the team.

So is training easy? Of course not, it takes days to bear fruit. But when it pays off and your pokemon gets that fire for battle, it's totally worth it.


	6. Chapter 6: Expierience of fear

My favorite thing about traveling is all the new things I get to experience. My heart is still beating after our encounter with the wild Zangoose. I decide to channel that excitement into running through the Hardpoint cavern only for it to be pitch black.

Flash, I forgot that I'd need flash. Where would I even find a pokemon who can learn flash? I debated catching a Pikachu for a while before my luck changed for better or worse when I saw the Mawile girl.

"You!" I shout enthusiastically "I want a rematch!"

She looks at me mildly aggravated and responds "I don't have time to waste beating you.". how arrogant can this girl be? I had half a mind to go on a long tirade about how much I've grown when another thought crept into my mind.

"um…You wouldn't happen to be headed to Hardpoint cavern are you?" I ask bracing myself for her ego.

She raises an eyebrow "what's it to you?" the girl retorts before the Mawile on her shoulder lets out a small cry. She looks at the Mawile and back to me "never mind I don't care do what you want I gotta go" she hastily says as she starts speed walking past me. I take that as permission to follow her and while she shoots me a look at first she doesn't object.

We enter the cavern and she throws out a shiny male Meowstic. Wow she works fast. The Meowstic uses flash which illuminates the cavern well enough to actually see. Me and Mawile girl continue through the path when suddenly she veers off.

"what gives? There's still a lot of path left." I ask

"I'll hold your hand through the cave after I check something." She replies irately and for a moment it actually gets quiet. We continue down this alternate route for a while before the cave starts to get to me. The cave is expansive. Whismur and Loudred hide behind the stalagmites while entire hordes of Zubat and Golbat hang from the ceiling. The cries of pokemon lurking in the dark echo from wall to wall.

"hey Mawile Girl, why are you so short with me?" I ask in an attempt to break the silence.

"people like you are the worst. You think you can just leave your home one day and become a trainer. Battling is an art, my art. When people who practice it so poorly call themselves trainers it reflects on people like me who've spent their whole life as a trainer and makes us seem worthless. That's why I'm so short with you, your existence is a problem for all trainers." She explains in a passive aggressive tone. Condescending as it is, she has a point. There are hundreds of deadbeat Trainers who can't make heads or tails over the mechanics of a battle or the functions of their pokemon. It must feel insulting to be tossed in a group with them if battling is your life. But still, that deadbeat trainer isn't me

"Can I show you something?" I ask while taking out my badge case. She nods and I reveal my Farrow city gym badge. She looks genuinely shocked that I've obtained it. "I had only ever had strict battles with my mom and brother until I battled you, and what you said to me after you beat me so easily really got to me. But like a real trainer I evolved and was able to win my first gym battle against a relatively difficult gym. Even if you always think less of me from that one battle, I want you to know that I'll keep evolving until I'm strong enough to surpass you and anyone else between me and the platinum league title." I put away my badge case and for the first time since the first battle her heavy attitude lifts.

"well if you managed to beat my old man you can't be that bad of a trainer." She says with a smile. The air between us mellows and the walk becomes a lot easier. We talk about pokemon and our favorite types. She goes on and on about why steel type is master race before we arrive at some kind of underground mural.

The mural consisted of small cave drawings of people running from a dark figure and a symbol I couldn't make out took up most of the center. It was a golden ring with 4 arms shooting from the sides. Two of the arms are connected on both sides with green jewels on each of the tips. At the base of the mural is a hooded woman and a shiny Gardevoir.

"Leave, I don't have time for you." The woman says without turning around. Her voice was stern and intimidating. The Gardevoir turned around and its glowing red eyes pierced through the darkness. For the first time I felt afraid of a pokemon. "I won't ask twice"

Mawile girl throws out her Lucario on instinct "this time I've got you Sapphire!" she yells. "Lucario use bullet punch" and with that Lucario rushes the Gardevoir. The woman raises her hand revealing a ring with a keystone attached. Without a word she mega evolves her Gardevoir. Lucario lands the first strike but it doesn't even phase the Gardevoir.

"Hilda, hyper voice" at point blank range the black Gardevoir lets out a fierce scream that rages throughout the cavern. Lucario is sent flying into a stalactite. To make matters worse the whismur and loudred react to the loud sound and begin to use combinations of uproar, hyper voice, and boomburst. My ears ring violently and my body quakes beneath the fierce roars. She recovers her Lucario, grabs my arm, and we begin to book it. I look back and get one final look at the woman in and my eyes meet her shades. A jolt runs up my spine as I over take Mawile girl. We run even after the noise is long out of earshot. We collapse at the exit of the cavern and as I catch my breath I see the entrance to Hardpoint.

"What was that, who was that woman" I ask panicked and confused. The Mawile girl simply looks at me dejected, calls back her Meowstic and begins walking ahead

"This is where you wanted to be right. See you around." I try to follow but my legs buckle. I sit against a rock as she walks away.

"hey Mawile girl! I'm Sid! Remember the name!" She looks back at me and smiles warmly, but she doesn't respond she just walks away.

My favorite thing about traveling is the experiences. But I gotta say, some experiences can be a little overwhelming.


	7. Chapter 7: The joy of battle

The thrill of a battle is the most intoxicating feeling for a trainer. On my way to the Hardpoint gym I crossed eyes with another trainer and just like that we knew we just had to battle. He wore the traditional trainer attire of a sports cap and a black jacket. This guy just gave the aura of a challenger. We exchanged names and no further introductions were needed.

Matthias draws a pokeball from his belt "Swift Let's show em how we battle!" he exclaims as throws out a garchomp. The garchomp emerges on all fours with a roar.

"Here we go Prancer!" Prancer takes the field in his battle stance.

"We'll do this league traditional style" Matthias says. League traditional differs from league standard in that traditional allows for more than 4 moves to be used during the battle as well as allowing move chaining. While it's no longer used as the standard for official league battles it's still commonly used among trainers.

"Swift, use sandstorm!" the garchomp spring off its feet into the air and before I can see where it's flying to a sandstorm engulfs the battlefield. "Follow up! Dragon claw!" The dragon begins to strike Prancer from all sides. Prancer manages to dodge some of the strikes but with the sandstorm masking the the garchomp he can't possibly evade all of the strikes.

In the moment of the barrage I get an idea "Prancer! Use psychic!" Prancer's eyes glow and all nearby movement in the sandstorm is stuck in his psychic grip, including the garchomp in mid maneuver. "Chain into ice punch!" Prancer pulls the garchomp right into a devastating ice punch. The garchomp is sent flying by the super effective attack. The sandstorm calms as garchomp is no longer able to maintain it.

Matthias grits his teeth as garchomp struggles back to his feet. "Swift! Chain outrage and dragon claw" The garchomp body becomes engulfed in blue flames, it's eye turn bright red and it charges forth with its claws ready to strike.

"Prancer! Use Psychic on yourself! Dodge dance!" Prancer body is engulfed in his psychic grip. He fluidly dodges the garchomp's fierce onslaught. Strike after strike the garchomp fails to hit its mark until it stops in confusion "Now's our chance! Chain close combat and ice punch!" Both of Prancer's fist become cloaked in the cold energy before he lets loose a barrage ice punches. They all strike the confused garchomp one after another until it finally falls over, knocked out. We win.

Me and Matthias recall our pokemon and shake hands. "You're pretty good, no doubt you're going to beat the gym."

"Thanks, it was a good battle." I reply modestly

"How about we battle again at the league?" he says with a smile

"Deal!" I answer. As he walks away I look to the side line and see the Mawile girl looking over me from the street. She turns her head and walks away when she realizes I noticed her. But I can't resist the urge to rub it in her face. "hey wait up Mawile girl!" I say as I chase after her.

"what do you want?" she says as she turns around irritated.

"How'd you like my battling? Not too shabby for the worst kind of trainer eh?"

"It's not like I was watching you battle or anything! I just saw a dancing Gallade and thought I'd take a look, it had nothing to do with you." She replies. Clearly flustered. "And stop calling me Mawile girl! My name is Stella the Elite Trainer, and you will address me as such!" She says as she crosses her arms

"Wait a minute, YOU'RE AN ELITE TRAINER!?" I exclaim surprised. Thinking back, she did have a league pass, and there are only three ways to obtain one. Buy your way into tournament, obtain one via badges, or be named an elite trainer by winning a regional league. Elite trainers are only one tier away from being members of the elite four and exist purely to filter out trainers who are unworthy to participate in the final phase of the platinum league. "No wonder you wanted to battle for the Espurr. You hustled me!"

"Hustled you?" she retorts "I won fair and square. It's not my fault you were a scrub!"

A smug smile crosses my face. While she doesn't get the reason her Mawile catches on and shares my grin. "what do you mean 'were'" I say

Her Mawile laughs as Stella screams "are! I meant are! You are a scrub!"

"Well how about you come watch my gym battle?" I ask while maintaining my well-earned smugness. I already know her answer before she says it.

"Fine, but only to watch you lose" she says as flustered as ever. Her yes was assured, because there's nothing more intoxicating to a trainer than battling.


	8. Chapter 8: Hardpoint gym battle!

Stella and I stand outside of the Hardpoint gym, taking in the splendor of it. Unlike regular gyms, which are just basic buildings with maybe one or two unique touches, this gym was in the shape of a towering mountain, with snow and everything. The mountain wasn't just for show, when we open the door a blast of cold air blows against us lifting our hair with the cool winds. But we press on into the cold gym until we reach the battlefield.

"I'm here for a gym challenge!" I shout to the referee who's sitting at a table drinking what seems to be hot chocolate. He nods his head and goes through a door in the back.

"I heard this gym leader is the type to adventure. You're pretty lucky to catch them here." Stella says. Before I can reply a woman in a sweater adorned with a sewing of some kinda blue ninetails emerges from the door with the ref.

"I take it you're the trainer?" the woman asks me. Her voice is quite cold, as if she's bored. "I am Krista, the Hardpoint gym leader. Let's get this over with." I don't know why, but her nonchalant attitude kinda pisses me off. It's like she doesn't even see me as a challenge.

"Trainers, take your places. This match will be a 1v1 battle in league standard format." The ref says as he lifts his flags. Stella sits on the sidelines while we take our positions.

"Prancer let's do this!" I release Prancer from his pokeball and he immediately extends his blades, ready for a fight.

"Let's go sandslash!" the gym leader throws out a sandslash. But to my surprise it's blue with icicles sticking out of its back rather than its normal quills.

"Wait, what?" I say confused. She said sandslash but this pokemon is an ice type.

"That's a type of sandslash that was discovered in the cold areas of the Alola region. Pokemon adapt based on their environment, these days you can even find these alternate pokemon forms in Dreastia!" Stella yells from the sidelines. I'm pretty sure she just wanted to show how much of a know it all she is. But either way she helped me out.

"Thanks Stella! I learned something new!" I shout back to her.

"Hate to interrupt kid, but can we get going?" the gym leader says. Her bored tone makes me want to beat her even more. I nod my head to the ref, ready for battle.

"Battle Begin!" the ref says as he throws down his flag.

"Let's end this fast! Prancer use close combat!" I order. Prancer rushes down the sandslash but before he can land the first blow the gym leader makes her first call.

"Sandslash use dig." She says, amazingly still bored. The sandslash burrows underground, avoiding Prancer's attack. "now, double team." Several sandslash burst from the ground near Prancer

"Rush em down! Close Combat!" Prancer begins assaulting the Clones one after another with no success in striking down the real one.

"Now sandslash, shadow claw" on her order sandslash bursts from the ground, and lands a critical upwards slash on Prancer which knocks him of his feet. I get frustrated, how can I counter such a cheap tactic? Prancer surely can't take many more of those so I have to end this fast. I look to the sidelines and I see Stella, looking at me again with those eyes of disgust. What am I doing wrong? Then it hits me: It's just like my battle with Stella. I'm too focused on landing the decisive blow that I'm missing the bigger picture. Prancer know a lot of moves, and I know just the one to turn the tides in my favor.

"Prancer, close combat once more!" As I make the call Stella audibly sighs. Prancer rises to its feet and rushes down the sandslash again. as expected the gym leader makes her call

"Sandslash, dig again." She says still bored. As expected the sandslash burrows underground before Prancer can strike him.

"All according to plan! Prancer, use earthquake!" Prancer's arms fill with energy and he slams the ground, causing it to vehemently shake. Sandslash is flung from the ground into the sky "catch it while it's stunned with Drain Punch!" Taking full advantage of the momentum Prancer jumps and slams the sandslash into the ground with a powerful punch. Prancer glows as the energy he drained heals him. Stella's expression changes to one of surprise as the sandslash falls to its knees.

"sandslash! Shadow claw!" Suddenly the gym leader raises her voice, yelling to the sandslash. She's finally started to take me serious! As if her newfound tone rejuvenated it the sandslash bursts from its knees in a spurt and stabs Prancer with its dark energy covered claws. Prancer recoils but his legs don't buckle.

"Counter with drain punch!" Prancer grabs onto the the sandslash's arm and throws another devastating punch. This one sends the sandslash flying. With the claw removed Prancer falls to his knees. It seems the drain punch didn't restore enough.

"Don't you dare faint!" the gym leader yells to her sandslash. Shockingly sandslash rises to its feet once again. "sandslash double team!" the sandslash makes several clones of itself that surround Prancer "sandslash, overcome him! Shadow claw!" All the clones rush towards Prancer at once, each with dark energy covered claws.

"Prancer! Take em all head on! Close Combat!" Prancer unleashes a flurry of punches and kicks on every clone that approached. One after another they fell until suddenly Prancer is impaled from behind by a shadow claw. Still holding on Prancer retracts his blades and elbows sandslash. The sandslash withdraws its claw as it staggers. Before it can recover Prancer continues with a roundhouse kick followed by one final punch to the sandslash's head that knocks it off its feet. Sandslash struggles to its feet before falling over, knocked out. And just like that the fight was over.

"sandslash is unable to battle! The trainer wins" the ref calls. I withdraw Prancer, who can barely stand, into his ball and the gym leader withdraws her sandslash.

"wow, I can't believe it. I guess I shouldn't have taken you so lightly" the gym leader says. I return her compliment with a smile and look towards Stella. She crosses her arms and sighs a puff of air. I'm sure she expected me to lose. "As proof of your victory over the hardpoint gym, I present you with the frost badge." She places the badge in my hands and a feeling of satisfaction washes over me.

"two down, six to go!" I exclaim while looking at Stella with my biggest grin. She gets up and starts to leave me behind, much to my confusion. "Stella wait!" I yell before chasing after her. I catch up to her and grab her arms. "what is it this time?"

"You had four times the advantage and you still struggled. I don't know why I almost considered you a good trainer, you've only improved in the smallest of ways." She says with no mercy. I feel attacked, so attacked that it pisses me off.

"Well why don't you battle me and I'll show you how much better I've gotten!" I yell defensively.

"What would be the point in that? I'd defeat you just as easily as before." As she says this her Mawile lets out a small cry. She looks at her companion then puts her hand on her chin. "Fine, I'll rematch you. However, I'll only do it if you obtain the wing badge, Fae badge, and the horror badge. By conquering your ace's weaknesses you'll prove to me that you're a worthy trainer. Do we have a deal?"

"Fine." I sigh. I was planning on sweeping easy gyms to get to the platinum league as soon as possible, however, I'm too proud to let Stella continuously talk down to me. "I'm gonna get those badges and rub them in your face!"

"I'll be waiting in Diamond city. Show up a winner or don't show up at all" And with that she walks away again without even so much as a wave. That girl astounds me.

"Alright Prancer, let's get you healed buddy. We've got a long road ahead us."


	9. Chapter 9: two v one! Protect vulpix!

Prancer was pretty beat up after the gym battle. The nurse told me he pushed himself way beyond his limit and would be bedridden for almost a day to recover. I don't mind, Prancer deserves a rest after earning us our second badge, and I knew just what to do in his absence.

"okay Junior! Are you ready to train!" I yelled enthusiastically to my timid little trapinch as I release him from his pokeball. he responded with a hearty *click click*. he has a habit of making a clicking noise with his teeth whenever he's excited. The best place for training would be a place called the Hardpoint Snowfield. So that's we're headed. Junior climbs up into my backpack and we go on our way.

The path to the Snowfield is frigid. My mom's handmade jacket is like paper when it comes to protecting me from the cold winds. It's strange because this heavy cold seems exclusive to this path alone, and the further we get the colder it becomes. As I ponder the nature of this cold deeper something jumps out onto the pathway. It's a vulpix, however its normally tame red fur is white and wavy and each of its tails are covered by the flowing of the wavy white fur. It stares at me intently with its radiant light blue eyes before falling over.

I run over to see what's wrong and find that beneath its fur are some pretty serious bruises. I scoop it into my arms and turn around, I have to get it to the pokemon center. I start to run back when suddenly I'm blindsided by a rock striking the back of my head. The impact causes me to drop vulpix and face plant into the snow. Junior withdraws deeper into my backpack. I sit up and face the source of the attack. It's two people, a tall one and a short one, in matching black jackets that obscure their faces. Beside the tall one is a roggenrola who I assume is responsible for hitting me.

"I am so sorry!" the short one says in a voice that makes it clear she's a young woman, maybe even my age. "We just wanted to stop you, we never wanted to-"

"oh shut up 32, the kid should know better than to take things that don't belong to him!" the tall one interrupts, his voice making it clear he's an older man.

"But still! Using rock blast on him is mean! We could have caught up and asked him nicely to give us the vulpix!" the girl retorts

The two begin to viciously go back and forth about whether or not hitting me with the rock was just. While they go on I stagger to me feet, scoop the unconscious vulpix back into my arms and slowly back away. I don't know what these two's deal is and I don't care, my priority is vulpix's safety.

"hey kid, where do you think you're going?" the tall one asks. Just as I feared the two turned their attention back towards me.

"I'm taking it to a pokemon center. It needs help." I say, still backing away.

"23, let me handle this!" the short one says. The tall man sighs and she continues "Hi, we didn't get off on the right foot. I'm 32 and he's 23! We were using that Vulpix for a few tests when I accidently let it free. It ran and we ran after it and here we are! So it'd be a big help if you gave it back so we can resume testing. What do you say?"

"what kind of tests puts a pokemon in this condition?" I ask cautiously.

"I can't say." 32 answers. She sounds almost like she's disappointed or, that she legitimately doesn't know. Or both!

"No offense but I don't trust either of you. I'm getting this vulpix to a pokemon center, and that's that." I declare solemnly.

This sets 23 off, before I could even take another breath he yelled "ROCK BLAST HIM AGAIN.". The roggenrola complies and blasts another rock that it summoned from its center.

"Junior! Crunch!" I yell out of desperation. Junior hops out of my backpack and catches the rock in his jaw, breaking it. he lands in front of me, braced for a fight.

"I really didn't want to fight" 32 says as she reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out a pokeball. With a "oh well" she throws out a cranidos. It takes a position next to the roggenrola and scratches its feet against the ground.

Junior has only ever fought against wild zangoose with Prancer. I doubt he can handle two opponents, but what other choice do I have? "Junior use bulldoze!" I command. Junior stomps the ground, filling himself with energy and charges.

"Cranidos! meet him head on with headbutt!" yells 32. The cranidos runs at the charging trapinch with surprising speed. They clash with a force that sends both of them back. Junior recovers but the cranidos struggles to regain its composure after literally taking a super effective attack head on.

"Roggenrola rock blast!" 23 orders. The roggenrola blindsides Junior with a rock, knocking him off his feet. Cranidos regains its composure and follows up the rock with another headbutt, knocking Junior down for good.

"Well that's too bad." Sighs 32. "you know, you can still hand over the vulpix peaceful-" before she could finish Junior stumbles back to his feet. He clicks its teeth and begins stomping the ground without my order. "d'aaw how cute! Cranidos use take down!" the two pokemon charge at each other like before but before they can make contact 23 interjects.

"Roggenrola use rock blast!" Roggenrola fires another rock at Junior, completely breaking his pace. Now vulnerable Junior is critically struck by the cranidos' assault, which Sends him flying to my feet. "heh, stay down this time" 23 taunts. Despite this Junior gets back up. As the two look down on him he's suddenly bathed in a white light. I know this light, I've seen it before, it's the light of evolution! Junior's whole body glows and starts to change. His head gets smaller, his body gets longer, his legs become thinner and wings sprout from his back. When the light fades, standing in the place of what was once a trapinch is a newly evolved vibrava!

While we all stand bewildered, Junior wastes not time. He flies into the air with glowing blue eyes, suddenly small sand tornados form around the cranidos and roggenrola. With one blink the sands cling to their bodies and hardens, crushing them. The cranidos tries to move but falls after two steps. the roggenrola doesn't even get that far before it falls over. I stare in disbelief. Junior has evolved, and knows sand tomb!

"no no no no no!" 32 yells as she recovers her cranidos. "What do we do now!"

"You get out of here and never come back!" I shout in reply.

"You may beat us now, but this isn't the last you've seen of Team Stone! Our commander will teach you a lesson!" 23 says while recalling his roggenrola. With that they throw down a smoke bomb and vanish.

"how cliché." I sigh with relief. Junior perches himself on my shoulder as we look down the path where the two odd grunts stood. I look in my arms at the vulpix which to my surprise had woken up at some point during the battle. With the threats gone it stirs out of my arms and onto its feet. It looks back to me, definitely seeking my help. I give it a stern nod and it limps out in front of me, guiding where? Who knows!?


	10. Chapter 10: Unbreakable!

We follow the vulpix further down the snow path. First it starts snowing lightly, then it starts to come down heavy. I put on my hood as the heavy snow becomes an all-out blizzard. I offer Junior a chance to return to his ball but he shakes his head no and instead chooses to stay on my shoulder. Mutually freezing, we follow the silhouette of the vulpix until we reach a small cavern covered in ice crystals. The vulpix looks back at me and points it's paw into the cave. As I walk into the cave vulpix walks behind me this time around. No doubt it's scared of whatever lies ahead.

Honestly the cave is a thing of beauty. The floor is lightly frosted, the crystals glow a warm blue, faintly lighting the cavern. As we get further inside the cave warms up enough for me to take off my hood. The lightly frosted cave floor is soon replaced by blue wooden tiles and the ceiling gets higher and higher. That's when it dawns on me that this beautiful cave is man-made.

"GYAOOOOO!" A large shriek pierces through the cavern. I run after the source but the cavern seems to go on forever before finally reaching a massive open door. Through it is an open room filled with scrolls, symbols emblazed on its icy walls, and a grand staircase at its center.

Descending the stair case is a woman with short and wild red hair. She wears a grey and black hoody with red lines crossing the front. In her hand is a leash that confines a heavily injured white ninetails that struggles to keep its footing as it's yanked along the stairs. Vulpix begins to cry wildly, the trembling ninetails makes eye contact with the distressed vulpix for a moment before lowering its head once more. It doesn't take much for me to put two and two together. This ninetails is vulpix's mother and that woman is a bad guy.

"Hey you! Let that ninetails go right now!" I yell out sternly and it echoes off the walls. The woman immediately locks eyes with me and, I admit, I flinch immediately. There's a fire in her eyes, like the ominous flames of drifblim's will-o-wisp it's a flame that fills me with dread. Without taking her eyes off me she reaches into her pocket, pulls out a pokeball and gently taps the ninetails' head. "No!" I scream as ninetails is called into the pokeball. Vulpix screeches at the top of her lungs, as helpless as I am while the ball wiggles three times and seals.

"whoops." the woman says in a deadpan tone. Then there's silence. What just happened? Did she really just catch the ninetails to spite me? A stand there, dumbfounded! Junior starts his wings, ready to attack the woman for her action

"release it!" I order. I'd never considered attacking a trainer before, but something about this woman brings out the worst in me. "last warning"

"Do you know what this place is? It's a temple built to house this artifact." She puts the pokeball containing the ninetails into her pocket and pulls out a small blue stone, no bigger than a clementine. "This artifact was protected by a regice and an articuno. So now I pose two questions to you: What do you think I just got done capturing, and do you really want to pit your Dragon/Ground type against them?" She puts the orb back into her pockets and pulls out another pokeball. "Well?" she asks in that same condescending deadpan tone.

She's bluffing! She has to be! I think to myself. There was nothing about a temple or a regice and articuno in this area. She's trying to psych me out so I won't attack her. Well I call her bluff "Junior-" before I can finish my command she drops the pokeball on the ground and surely enough a regice bursts out at her feet. I internally freak out as the unbelievable is happening right before my eyes.

"Do I have to throw out the articuno as well, or do you want to rethink your decision?" She's mocking me. If I had Prancer I could stand a chance but as things stand now, I can't do a thing. I can't save ninetails, I can't stop this evil woman, and I can't even think straight anymore. Junior cries into my ear to try and bring some sense to me but there's nothing he can do either. I look down at the young vulpix which is quivering at my feet. I've failed it. The woman looks down on me without saying a word, like I'm nothing.

Despite me having given up Junior stays riled up. As if he's going to leap off my shoulder and fight the regice himself any minute. As if sensing that these actions may give me even the slightest glimmer of hope the woman speaks the dreaded words, "regice, ice beam" and before I can even process what she had just said the regice shoots a thin blue beam of ice that pierces right through Junior, knocking him off shoulder. My jaw drops as low as it could go.

"w-why?" I say as I turn around, fall to my knees and embrace the injured Junior. He's hurt bad but not fatal. I recall him to his pokeball but I couldn't bring myself to stand. "Why?"

"Two of my grunts said some kid chased them from the perimeter. I didn't want you to get the idea that you could ever defeat us. Whenever you see team stone in the area I want you to think back to this moment and do what a worthless wretch like yourself does best: nothing." This hits me hard. I was just playing hero this whole time, but this, this is far beyond me. She recalls the regice then continues descending the stairs. As she walks past me she looks down on me like I'm nothing one last time and whispers "next time, I'll kill you." Before exiting the temple.

I stay on my knees, bathed in sweat, drowning in my own fear. That's when the vulpix, that had been beside me the entire time walks between my knees lightly licks my hands. Its cold tongue is soothing in a way. I regain my composure; it's not like me to mull around all depressed. "hey little princess, how about you come with me. We're gonna find your mother!" The majestic white vulpix nods her head in agreement and lets out a cry of determination. I pull out a pokeball and tap her head. It wiggles three times and seals. "welcome to the team Princess" I say.

I rise to my feet. I was just humiliated and defeated worse than I even knew was possible, but in a way that only motivates me. Even if it kills me, I resolve to find that woman and beat her. I walked out of that cave with my head held high, the blizzard has subsided and I can see the sun clearly. I return to Hardpoint with my head held high.

Naturally Prancer was pretty upset he missed out on the regice and evil hag. But when I assure him that next time he'll get a run at her he explodes with hype, hot blooded as always. Junior and Princess share in our motivation. I'll get my badges and stop team stone. I may have taken my first steps a while ago, but the real adventure starts now.


	11. Chapter 11:Vs Jet! Pikachu from hell?

After introducing Prancer to our newest party member and telling him all about the little misadventure junior and I went on, he started giving me the silent treatment. Prancer's headstrong and hot-blooded so I guess he feels that I cheated him out of a legendary fight. He gets along with Princess very well and praised Junior on his new transformation. But to me, the gallade only shows contempt.

"I told you I would've brought you if I knew what I was getting into! Forgive me already!" I plead to no avail. Prancer just turns his head and sighs. Just then the ticket lane for trains to Aero city opened up. "uggh we don't have time for this!" I say as I pull out his pokeball "if you don't want to be reasonable you can just retur-" Before I could finish Prancer snatches the ball from my hand and shrinks it. "SERIOUSLY!?" I yell, shocked. He chuckles at me as he grips the ball too hard for me to take back. "Stop it you're gonna break it!" I say trying to wrestle the ball back. However, it proves futile, so I give up and go to the ticket booth with Prancer guilt tripping me.

I buy the ticket and take a seat on the platform. The train won't be here for a while so I decide to play Pokemon Trainer Simulator Platinum Version on my Devon co. 2S. I get a few minutes of gameplay in before everything suddenly goes black. Startled, I jump before realizing someone's covering my eyes. "guuueeeesssss whoooooo" a familiar voice whispers into my ear.

"Jet!" I say overjoyed. She releases my eyes and I turn around to get a look at her. Surely enough it was my beautiful Black and red haired friend. She gives me a hug then pats me on the shoulders.

"You're going to Aero!? Why? the only gym there is flying type." She asks, now taking a seat on the bench next to Prancer, who's still being bitter.

"Long story short someone I really want to beat said she'd battle me if I could conquer all of Prancer's weaknesses." I answer

"She? Man, you must be good with all the ladies. But speaking of Prancer, what's wrong with him?" She asks while lightly poking the irritated Prancer.

"He's mad that I went on a dangerous adventure and caught a new pokemon while he was getting patched up." I answer "Even though I had no idea what Team Stone was or that they'd be there!" I yell, more directed at Prancer than jet.

"Team Stone!? You met Team Stone!? Did they hurt you!? Are you okay!?" Jet screams while shaking me furiously. I try to answer but this girl has some strength, I'm moving so fast the only thing I can get out are yelps. "Oh…Sorry." she says as she finally stops shaking me.

"Yeah I bumped into two grunts who hurt this vulpix, but I was able to chase them off. Then vulpix led me to this temple-like place. This crazy scary red head was there. She captured the vulpix's mother and then threw out a regice that blasted Junior with an ice beam, knocking him out instantly. She said she'd kill me if she ever saw me again, which still kinda scares me. But I refuse to back down, I'm gonna find the woman and save that ninetails for Princess" I explain. I think I summarized it pretty well.

"So you met Ruby. Listen, wanting to get back the ninetails is noble, but I don't think it's wise. Team Stone is dangerous, especially admins like her." she says in a somber tone that I didn't know she possessed.

"So Ruby's her name? How do you know about Team Stone, Jet?" I Ask

"Let's just say me and Team Stone have a history! A muddy history! But that's irrelevant. Care to show me the Vulpix and how Junior is doing?" She answers, back to her perky tone.

"Sure." I reply as I toss out Junior and Princess.

"Wow she's a rare alolan breed! And Junior has evolved into a big strong vibrava! So much progress, yet so cute. It seems like just yesterday I was telling you about 3D battling! You've grown so much in these few days Sid. You have so much potential." She says, dumping on the compliments happily. Prancer sighs loudly from the bench, seemingly to remind us that he's mad at me. "Oh I didn't forget about you Prancer. If it's a tough battle you missed out on, how about you battle me!? Ooo how about your whole team!? A full 3v3!" She proposes. This piques Prancer's interest. And if all it takes is a good battle to keep him from being mad at me I'll take it.

"you're on!" I reply. Prancer jumps up and gives me back his pokeball. Jet smiles and grabs me by the hand and pulls me all the way to a nearby battlefield.

"okay, 3v3 in league standard. Four moves are all we need." She declares. She puts her hand on her chin and then exclaims "Aha! How about this, if I 3-0 you with only my first pokemon you have to do me a favor. And if you manage to beat my first pokemon, I'll give you a gift."

"Deal." I answer. Her confidence is intimidating. What could she possibly have that could 3-0 my entire team?

"Then let the battle begin!" She yells. Jet reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a pokeball with a thunder sticker on it. "Pikachu. I choose you!" She declares as she throws out a female pikachu who comes out of the ball flexing her arms. Is she joking? Does she really think a little pikachu can take Prancer or Junior? There's no way she's sweeping my team with that! I feel such a little one would be much more suitable for Princess.

"Princess let's go! Time for you first battle!" I yell. Princess takes the field. despite being green she still shows the battling spirit. "Use powder snow!" I command. Princess blows out a gust of frosty wind at the pikachu

"break through, Iron tail" Jet orders. As she does so she makes gestures such as an X with her arms for "break through!" and a sideways. chop for "iron tail". Only the first turn and she's already really into it. The pikachu charges straight through the powder snow completely unfazed then in one swift motion, slams her glowing tail into Princess' jaw with enough force to send her flying out of the field, knocked out. "3-2." Jet exclaims triumphantly.

"You did good Princess. Return" I say as I recall the defeated vulpix back to her pokeball. "Let's see your pikachu beat a ground type! Let's go Junior!" I exclaim. Junior flies onto the battlefield and locks eyes with the pikachu. "Junior use earthquake!" Junior flies up and then striked the ground creating shock waves

"Pikachu use magnet rise!" the space around pikachu's body distorts as she begins to lift into the air. "now fly high up!" Jet continues. pikachu continues rising until she's far above the field.

Flying pikachu? I've seen it all now. Not being able to use ground type moves puts me at a disadvantage, but I'm not one to back down in the face of a challenge. "Junior, Fly after it and use crunch!" I command. Junior flutters his wings and then zips after the pikachu with his fangs drawn.

A smile flashes across Jet's face as she orders "Pikachu, fall and use iron tail head on!" Pikachu drops the magnet rise and her tail begins to glow. With a flip she attempts to strike the incoming Junior with her tail but he catches it with his mouth. However, the weight of the iron tail proves too much and Junior and the pikachu end up plunging into the ground with a hard crash that shrouds the field in a dust cloud. When the dust clears the pikachu is perfectly fine while Junior is struggling to stand.

Always the opportunist when it comes to striking back I try to take advantage of pikachu being back on the ground. "Junior use bulldoze!".

Before Junior can even begin his attack jet counters "Pikachu use quick attack!" and with that pikachu charges at Junior at high speed, striking him right when he begins his attack. Shockingly pikachu is sent flying back. It seems bulldoze activated after she struck and hit her dead on. Junior stands triumphantly, lets out a battle cry, and then falls over exhausted. He's unable to battle. "heh, 3-1" Jet says.

Looking over at the pikachu who just took a ground type attack directly, she's oddly perfectly fine. It triumphantly flexes as I recall Junior. What is with this pikachu? How does one get a pikachu this strong?

"We'll turn this around! Let's go Prancer!" I say. Prancer Jumps onto the field and extends his blades. He fiercely looks down on the small but dangerous pikachu and she looks back at him with a smile. This pikachu, No, Jet is dangerous. In the last two battles she created openings out of all my moves. So if I'm going to nail her I'm going to have to use moves she can't exploit. "Prancer use Psychic!" I order. Prancer's eyes glow as he grabs pikachu with his psychic grip and slams it to the ground.

"Pikachu, Volt tackle!" for the first time Jet calls a move that I'm a capable of countering. Pikachu coats it's body in electric energy and then charges at Prancer at high speed. It's all going just as planned.

"Prancer, stop her dead in her tracks, use Earthquake!" Prancer Strikes the ground creating shockwaves. Just I thought, though hit by the attack Pikachu runs through it and strikes Prancer. Like clockwork Pikachu recoils, leaving it wide open. "Now Prancer, Drain Punch!" Prancer lands a critical blow on pikachu sending it flying to jets feet and recovering the damage Prancer took from the volt tackle.

"huh…well played." Jet says. Pikachu, though heavily injured, manages to stand and weakly flex its muscles. "You and Prancer battle so well! Pikachu can't take another hit. Looks like I'll have to use… that.". Jet looks at me, then looks at pikachu. The device on her arm begins to glow yellow and that's when I notice that pikachu is also glowing. This doesn't bode well, but since she hasn't called an attack, I can't counter. "Are you ready girl!" Jet happily yells to which pikachu returns with an enthusiastic "Pika!". And then right before my very eyes both Jet and the pikachu begin dancing. No seriously. She clasps her hands and rhythmically draws a thunderbolt in the air, pikachu raises her hands and does the same. They use their hands to make ears on their heads, then they use their fingers to make circles on their cheeks before striking a pose. Me and Prancer sit there baffled. Suddenly pikachu's glowing explodes into a flaming electric aura. She jumps into Jets arms and they share a smile before Jet throws her into the air. Pikachu begins to spin as the aura engulfs her and turns her into a giant spinning ball of unstable electricity. The ball grows and grows until it's massive. Jet looks me straight in the eye and smiles. "Looks like it's time for a catastro-Pika!" Jet says, managing to make her happy voice sound horrifying. She punches the air and pikachu begins to rapidly fall towards Prancer.

What is this attack? I think to myself. "Prancer Run!" I yell in desperation as the giant ball of destruction nears. To my horror the ball hits Prancer dead on and the explosion that follows swallows the entire battlefield in white light. When the light clears the Pikachu stands over Prancer, who's out cold. I was defeated 3-0…by a pikachu. I wipe my eyes to assure myself that this all just happened before exclaiming "WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?". In the distance a train can be heard. Jet smiles at me and recovers her triumphantly flexing pikachu.

"we have a train to catch. We can go over your defeat there." Jet says with a smile and a wink.


	12. Chapter 12: The talk

Jet and I take our seats. I gotta admit this train is pretty nice. There's a pokemon car with a built in healing unit and training area. Prancer and Junior are there now working off the frustration of losing to a pikachu. To be honest I'm a little frustrated too. Princess on the other hand is perfectly fine. She sits on my lap and takes a nap without even a second thought. I think I should take a page from her book when it comes with dealing with defeat.

"So, can you tell me why you lost?" Jet says while petting her pikachu, which hasn't stopped boasting and flexing since the battle.

"Because that pikachu is on pokesteroids and needs to be donated to science?" I reply bitterly. The Vulpix on my lap audibly sighs. Guess even in her sleep she can sense how salty I am right now.

"No, silly. While my pikachu is a modestly powerful pokemon, It's still just a pikachu." She quickly pinches pikachu's cheek pouches and let go as electricity is drawn out. "See? There's no reason why a cutie like this should have made it past Junior or Prancer. So I'll ask you again. Why did you lose?"

"Well if your pikachu is so normal how did you know it'd be all you needed to beat me? Am I really that bad that you're going to lecture me about my lack of skill!?" To be honest her bubbly demeanor is kind of irritating knowing she defeated me so easily. I already know the answer. I lost because she's better than me. The difference between her and I is so wide all she needed to defeat my entire team was pikachu. It's like Stella all over again. An opponent so skilled that they seem insurmountable. How am I going to defeat Ruby or Stella when the gap is so wide?

"You're wrong." She drops the bubbliness for a more serious tone. "You're not a bad trainer. Far from it. You forced me to use a Z-move! Not many trainers get that far. You didn't lose because you're a bad trainer, you lost because you underestimated your opponent." An attendant brings a plate of poffles and sits them on the table between jet and I. Pikachu hops up and buries her face in them. I lost because I underestimated that thing? Can you blame me?

"So what you're saying is I should see every pikachu like some grand threat?"

"No sid. You didn't underestimate pikachu." She shoots me a piercing gaze with her amber eyes, with an almost scary intensity. "You underestimated me." It feels like the train has gotten colder. Jet's presence has become overwhelming. "Every call you made was an attempt to end the match quickly. You thought you could defeat me in simple plays, which made it easy to turn your strategies into mine and by the time you realized who you were up against you were already being struck by a Z-move. Your pokemon are strong, but what good is strength without strategy. When you battle you have to think like your opponent and exploit their every weakness. You must go beyond being a trainer and become a tactician and strategist, a war general. Until then you will always be beneath even the weakest pokemon in my possession.". The intensity fades from her eyes and that bubbly smile of hers returns. "Plus I kinda only have two pokemon on hand and the other wouldn't have wanted to battle so I only really had this cutie to call on anyway!"

I don't reply. I sit and process what I just heard. She's right. I don't plan beyond whether an attack lands or misses, I make up as I go along. But what good is that against someone who can plan around anything I can just throw out? "You're right Jet. I was careless. But being a war general isn't my style. If you find and exploit openings, then I'll just become perfect so there won't be any openings!"

Jet seems taken aback at first, but then she just starts laughing. "Become perfect, eh? Well you wouldn't be the first." She sits laughing until the train pulls up to our stop. "Oh we're here. Guess that means it's time for your favor." She says, standing up. Pikachu hops onto her shoulder.

"And what's that?" I wake up Princess and she hops on my shoulder.

"You're gonna help me catch a zapdos!" She says with a large smile.

I give her a nice long look then sternly reply "WHAT!?"


	13. Chapter 13: Bring on the Steel & Thunder

Jet, Prancer and I stand in front of a massive factory like building. It was well out of the way of Aero city so I left Princess and Junior in daycare. Prancer refused to return to his pokeball when he found out he'd be going up against a legend. The building is intimidating: it's large, rusty, littered with holes with rails going in and out of the building and into the mountainside, and ominous clouds gather around the top.

"Okay run this by me one more time. What is this place and why are we here again?" I ask nervously

"Like I said the last three times you asked. There's an artifact here that I'd like to retrieve. However, it's guarded by a zapdos and registeel. Normally I could take them on my own but I only have 2 pokemon, neither of which can take a registeel. That's where you and Prancer come in. Keep it distracted long enough for me to take down the zapdos and retrieve the artifact." She happily answers. "And don't worry, It'll take me three minutes, tops. After all, It's not the first time I've taken on a legendary pokemon." She says with a reassuring smile. First the insane pikachu and now she's telling me she's fought legends in the past? Kinda scared of Jet now.

"You hear that Prancer? Think we can do it?" Prancer shakes his head and roars to show he's ready. "alright let's go.".

We enter the building to find a rusty sour smelling room filled with mine carts that lead into separate caves.

"We're not taking the stairs. Soooo, eenie meenie miney-" she grabs Prancer and I by the hand and pulls us into the centermost mine cart. "Mo!" she flips the switch and the mind cart jets off into the mountain. Prancer and I scream for our lives while Jet laughs maniacally. We twist and turn at such high speeds that I almost lose my lunch. Suddenly we come to a stop sending Prancer and I flying out of the cart and to the ground. "What? Did you guys not see that coming?" Prancer grabs my hand and helps me to my feet.

"No, we didn't." I reply

"Well try to keep it together. Apparently we took the wrong one so we'll have to go back and take another!"

"Oh no." I cry.

"Oooh yes" she replies without a single care. We end up taking two more mine carts that lead to dead ends before we finally reach one that twists us up the mountain. "This is better than taking the stairs!" Jet laughs. I'm too focused on not throwing up to tell her why she's wrong. Prancer wraps his arms around me so that I don't go flying out when we suddenly stop.

This time we arrive in a room with a large steel door emblazoned with symbols of zapdos and registeel surrounded by some people holding an orb.

"Long ago, an object of great power was sealed away out of fear that it's power would fall into the wrong hands. The keys to finding that item were scattered among three temples and left in the care of legendary pokemon. It's said that once all three orbs are collected, that item of untold power will be revealed." Jet says, enamored with the symbols. "At least, that's what the legends say. Heh" She finally comes out of her trance and tries to go back to her bubbly persona. But I can see through it now. There's more to her than she's letting on. She chuckles awkwardly again to continue the illusion "Ha ha ha! Well let's be on!" She walks forward in front of me and Prancer and throws out her pikachu. "Do your thing little one." The pikachu shocks the door causing it to light up and with the mass clanking of gears slowly open. I guess the type sensitive doors are the reason Ruby captured Ninetails.

The doors open fully revealing a large arena like room. At the far end a zapdos in all its majesty sits perched on top of a large structure with a yellow orb in the center. "BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP" suddenly the zapdos' gaze locks onto us. The source of the beeping falls from the ceiling into the center of the room, It's a registeel.

"Sid, Prancer, On three I want you two to strike the registeel. Clear?" Jet says. her voice becomes serious again. She pulls out the other pokeball she has, the only other one.

"Crystal." I respond. Prancer extends his blades, ready to strike.

"Alright. Pikachu, cheer them on." She says with a smile. Even while serious she can't help but be playful I guess. Just what kind of girl is she?

"Pika!" Pikachu replies affirmatively.

"Great" She clasps her hands and says something in I don't understand, could she be from Kanto? "With that…Let's go!" She yells ferociously. A huge smile spreads from ear to ear as she breaks into a dash right towards the Registeel.

"One," The registeel attempts to fire off a flash cannon but before it could fire Jet was already too close. She Jumps onto its head and springboards off it into the air

"Two," while in the air she tosses down her pokeball. Out of it emerges a greninja. I wipe my eyes to make sure I'm seeing right. She's gonna face a zapdos with a greninja!? She lands well behind the registeel. Zapdos extends its wild spiky wings and flies off its perch ready for battle. The registeel turns around to take another shot with flash cannon when jet extends her hands and yells "Three!"

"Prancer use shadow sneak and chain into close combat!" I don't hesitate on giving my order. Prancer nods and then sinks into the ground becoming a black shadow that slides upon the ground at high speed. Before registeel can fire its flash cannon Prancer jumps from the ground behind him and lets out a flurry of blows. The registeel stumbles but then turns with an extended arm, slapping Prancer across the room.

With Registeel's attention averted Jet straightens her back, puts both fists to her side and screams at the top of her lungs, "Let's show them our battle bond! Oretachi wa motto motto tsuyoku, ikuzo!" Suddenly an intense stream of water surrounds greninja forming a completely opaque ball before becoming concentrated on greninja's back. It spins before becoming a giant water shuriken. Greninja's skin is now a lighter shade of blue, the side of his head is now black with extended black skin that looked like side burns. And at the center of his head is a red cross that extends to the sides of his head. This was no ordinary greninja. What kind of Kanto magic is this?

Before I could contemplate the strange greninja even further registeel fired a flash cannon directly at Prancer. No time to dodge. "Prancer use teleport, chain into psychic on yourself." Prancer teleported from the blast into the sky, psychic giving him the ability to levitate above the registeel. The registeel fired more flash cannons but Prance gracefully psychic danced around them.

While waiting for an opening I take another glimpse at Jet and greninja. They're dodging thunderbolts at high speed. When I say they I mean both of them. Their movements are perfectly in sync and when the zapdos attacks either of them they easily dodge it. As look on in awe at Jet a thought creeps into my mind. If they can attack trainers, then…

Suddenly I'm blindsided as I'm struck by a flash cannon. I'm hurled into the air when I'm suddenly stopped. Prancer caught me and is now holding me in his embrace. He looks at me with a reassuring smirk and then drops me off on the ground.

"Prancer, let's finish this! Teleport and chain into close combat!" Prancer lets out a war cry then begins pummeling registeel from all sides. As registeel tries to counter to no avail, I look over to Jet and see greninja jump into the sky and slash down zapdos with a blade made of water. It's down, just like that. Unwilling to be beat I turn my attention back towards the stubborn registeel. It suddenly jumps into the air and as Prancer comes out of his teleport I realize what's about to happen. It's using heavy slam. Note to self, teach Prancer protect. Unable to teleport in time Prancer is crushed beneath the registeel. It lifts its self off of Prancer and takes to steps back thinking that we're done for. As it turns its attention back towards jet I see my opening. "This is it! Chain drain punch and close combat!" Prancer rises up like a phoenix and lands a powerful strike on the registeel, then another, then another, then another over and over until with one final uppercut the registeel fell on its face defeated while Prancer was fully healed. I reach into my bag for a pokeball but out of nowhere Jet throws one first. It seems she already caught zapdos, and with little resistance registeel follows.

"Ah ah ah, you're here to help, not help yourself." She says as she fist-bumps her greninja before sending him back into his ball. I can't even put into words how ripped off I feel. She turns to the entrance to see pikachu, sleeping the entire time instead of cheering. "what am I gonna do with you." She returns pikachu to its pokeball.

"What are you even going to do with both of them!?" I ask, still hurting from how cheated I was.

"I'm going to put them somewhere safe, where they can frolic and be free!" She smiles. "Speaking of free, here!" She reaches into her pocket and pulls out two item pokeballs.

"What's in these?" I ask

"Open them and find out!" She urges with a wide smile. I open one and a necklace falls out with a strange stone in it. Prancer immediately becomes enamored with it. I open the other ball and a Bracelet with another stone falls out. On the side of the bracelet is a little chibi Jet giving a thumbs up. "Surprise! I was gonna give them to you if you beat pikachu, but you beat a registeel which is way more deserving. When both you and Prancer wear it, and your powers combine you'll achieve the legendary mega evolution." I freeze. Mega evolution is a tool so advanced only the best of trainers are capable of it. I'm speechless. "Well, here." Jet snatches the bracelet and necklace from my hands. Prancer kneels down at her side and she gently places the necklace on him. She turns to me and grabs my hand and slides the bracelet onto my wrist. Then she gives me a kiss on the cheek.

"What was that for?" I ask, I admit I was caught off guard by that.

"That one was also for the registeel. Now come on, let's get out of here." As we begin walking to the exit Prancer pouts. "oh, what's wrong Prancer?"

"I think he wanted one too." I say jokingly.

"Oh, okay!" She says before grabbing Prancer and giving him a big smooch. "There, is that better?". Though he tries to hide it, he can barely keep from smiling.


	14. Chapter 14: Aero Gym! HailStorm Princess

"Kyaa!" Prancer Grunts as he strikes a pose.

"Nyaa!" Princess follows suit, trying her best to do a quadrupedal version. I've got to admit; it was pretty funny looking. I've been thinking about Jet ever since we parted ways after getting back from the factory tower. She was in quite a hurry to get out of town, I like to think she didn't want to share a hotel with me. Still, there's so much about her I don't get. She beat that zapdos while at an absolute disadvantage with that strange greninja, she swept my whole team with a pikachu, she gave me this keystone and galladite for Prancer, and she kissed me on the cheek! What is she!? Certainly, not an ace trainer like Stella. Even so, she's good. I'm happy I ran into her. I would've charged right into the Aero City Gym with no strategy and a vulpix with only powder snow. That brings us to where we are now. Princess' training regimen handled by me and Prancer has been a success for this week. Powder snow has been replaced with ice shard. She's also gained Icy wind, hail, and confuse ray. It won't be like with Jet; this time Princess will win.

As I sit and contemplate the nature of how I'd take on this gym, Junior comes flying back. I sent him to stretch his wings. He lands on the bench beside me and buzzes his wings, I guess to signal that he's ready for action. Prancer and Princess are too busy training to notice Juniors arrival.

"Alright guys! Huddle up!" I call out to them. Prancer, Princess, and Junior join around in a circle. "Remember the plan. Princess, you'll take on any pure flying types. Prancer and Junior will take what you can't. You're the star!" She jumps and growls with excitement, spirit of battle roaring inside of her. This was it, my third gym badge and my first step towards a rematch with Stella.

I enter the Gym and there is no hallway or buildup. Just an extremely expansive blue battlefield. I gasp as I take it all in. Flying types definitely have the advantage.

"Waaah!" A little girl runs past me crying while holding her ratata. That could've been me with Princess. I hesitate before stepping on the field. am I ready? No, I'm beyond ready! I reassure myself as I take the challengers place on the field. The gym leader, who's about my age, is off to the side healing his pokemon.

"Oh? Two victims in one day?" someone says with a wheezy laugh. He's a tall and lanky old man with a balding head and goggles on. "I fought in the war and you youngsters still think you can take me!" He says while shaking his fist. What a strange old man. Where did he even come from "bobby boy we got another one!" he calls out. Slowly realization hits that this crazy old man is the gym leader. Suddenly he grows wings! No, it would seem there's a braviary holding onto his back that spread its wings. With a mighty CAAAAAAAAW it lifts him up and flies him to the gym leader's position on the other side of the field.

"Here's the rest of your team sir." The boy who I assume must be bobby boy says as he brings over 5 more pokeballs.

"Alright youngster, let's do this!" He says while striking his trainer pose "Let's end this quick swellow!" He clumsily throws out a swellow which erupts from its ball with twice as much vigor as it's master.

"You're on!" I exclaim as I strike a pose of my own, solely because I didn't want to be outdone. "Princess! Let's do this!" I throw out Princess, she emerges with a light growl.

"This battle will be league standard. Four moves only, no move chaining, Battle is decided when all the opponents Pokémon have fainted." Billy boy, acting ref, lays out the rules "Battle begin!"

"wellow! Quick Attack!" The old man calls out. All according to plan.

"Ice shard!" I order. As expected the swellow charges right through the Ice shards. While it successfully hit princess, the damage is mitigated. Princess is unmoved while swellow has to make distance. "Follow up with hail!" I continue. Before the old man can even follow up princess already engulfs the field in a hail storm. Her ability Snow Cloak activates and she seemingly disappears.

"What the…?" The old man is lost and so is swellow "well don't ya stand there! Clear blow a path and look for it with air slash!" He orders grumpily. Swellow does as it's told and fires air slash at where it last saw princess. She isn't there or in any of the surrounding area cleared by the air slash. Swellow turns around to blow a different area and as the hailstorm retakes the area behind him it was time.

"Now! grab onto him and use icy wind!" Before swellow or the old man can realize what was happening Princess is already on swellow's back.

"Nyaa!" Princess roars as she unleashes a critical point blank icy wind that brings the swellow down immediately. The hailstorm subsides revealing Princess standing triumphantly over the fainted swellow.

"swellow is unable to battle. Winner is vulpix!" Bobby Boy Declares. The old man is simply seething, and it's amazing. Princess doesn't just disappear in the blizzard. She stays 180 degrees from the initial point where she used the move. I always know roughly where she is so we can exploit weaknesses.

"Alright youngster, you got lucky! let's see you take this! Go staraptor!" The old man yells as he tosses out a staraptor. This one, also shockingly young compared to its trainer. "Brave bird!" staraptor becomes engulfed in a blue flame like aura and charges princess.

"Princess, Hail!" The hailstorm shrouds princess just before staraptor can plow through her. No doubt she was grazed by it despite all appearances making it look like she disappeared unfazed.

"Not working twice boy! Brave bird all over the place!" He commands. The staraptor engulfs himself in the blue flaming aura again and began shooting around the field. I can tell Princess is just narrowly dodging. What's worse is that the attack clears away the storm as it cut through, so we'd occasionally catch a glimpse of princess dodging. I have t

o think of something fast. That's when it hit me. The staraptor was taking damage as the hail went on. Princess can out last it.

"Princess, Ice shard whenever you get the chance!" I call out. It was practically checkmate from here. Staraptor flies into a direction, gets hit, staggers, clumsily flies into another direction, gets hit, repeat. All the while Princess gracefully dances around him from the shadows of the hailstorm. This continues until finally staraptor fell.

"That's it! staraptor is unable to battle." Billy boy declares.

"oooooooh ya done did it now boy!" The old man scolds. "Braveboy! Let's get em!" The braviary that had been on his back spreads its wings once more and takes flight. It's older than the last two birds but still too young to have been his first. This is it. My first clean sweep.

"Princess! Hail!" I call. Princess Disappears in the hail storm.

"Steel wing!" braviary turns to the side so it's glowing steel wings cut through the ground it doesn't even come close to where princess could've been. Maybe it was senile? It continuously missed by long shots.

"Now! Ice Shard" Ice shards began flying from the shadows however the braviary dodges every single one. That's when it hit me. braviary can have keen eye. It can see Princess. Then why was it missing? suddenly Princess is struck head on by a steel wing. "What!" I realize she must've tripped. The clever old man was tearing up the field to make it harder for her to move.

"Finish this brat! Steel wing!" braviary turns to end the battle by rushing down princess

"Confuse ray!" I yell on impulse. Princess can't survive another steel wing. I didn't expect it to work, but to my surprise not only does the orb of confusion hit the incoming foe, but braviary goes flying behind Princess and crashes onto the ground. "Quick! Before it gets back up! Icy wind!" Princess breaks towards the confused braviary and unleashes a point blank Icy wind. Brave Boy was down for the count. I win.

"braviary is unable to battle!" Billy boy declares. But he didn't declare my victory. But that could only mean…

"Well done boy. You reached the halfway point. The real battle begins now! Go Flame boy!" He says with gusto as he throws out a talon flame. It erupted from its ball in a burst of flames. This one was far older than staraptor. Yet still much younger than him. "Let's see how you fair against the rest of my boys." He says with fire in his old eyes.


End file.
